Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

The Tenth Circuit recently addressed whether multiple injuries allegedly resulting from an institution’s failure to prevent sexual abuse constitute one “occurrence” or several. In Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, the court held that the relevant policy language found in many general liability policies was ambiguous and must be construed in favor of the policyholder.

The decision shows that determining the number of occurrences depends not merely on the number of claimants, injuries, or time between injuries, but on the policy language and the alleged cause of liability. That distinction may affect whether coverage applies when a policy includes a per-occurrence self-insured retention or deductible.

Like other policyholders, hard insurance market trends, aggravated by cybersecurity risks, climate change, and COVID-19, have hit higher education policyholders, yielding reduced or limited coverages for increased premiums. These conditions – reduced coverages and higher premiums – are symptoms of a “hard” insurance market. (A hard market is caused by a mismatch between policyholders’ waxing demand for coverage and insurers’ waning risk appetite.) But higher education policyholders face unique risks that exacerbate existing market conditions, including:

Increasing public concern over sexual misconduct, evidenced by the #MeToo movement and investigations into high-profile organizations such as USA Gymnastics, the Boy Scouts of America, various religious institutions, and the entertainment industry, has led to the enactment of laws that may have a major impact on the coverage litigation world. This year, eighteen states and the District of Columbia will enact laws modifying the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases, allowing victims to bring claims that otherwise would have been time-barred.